<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>the sun can shine again [placeholder title im horrible at naming things] by welcometowhitespace</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29473341">the sun can shine again [placeholder title im horrible at naming things]</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/welcometowhitespace/pseuds/welcometowhitespace'>welcometowhitespace</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>OMORI (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, OH IS THAT HOW YOU MAKE YOUR OWN TAG, Platonic Relationships, Some Fluff, Sunflower, Trauma, Wholesome, basil and sunny, mari - Freeform, omori - Freeform, stupid idiots doing stupid things, what is this help</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 21:48:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,672</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29473341</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/welcometowhitespace/pseuds/welcometowhitespace</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sunny wants to move on, he does. He finally finds the courage to face the truth, and the confession pours out of his mouth. But he finds himself terrified of his friends' reactions as he continues his hospital stay. Will only he and Basil be left in the end? Was it all for nothing? And why, when Sunny goes to sleep, does he still end up in White Space?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aubrey &amp; Basil &amp; Hero &amp; Kel &amp; Sunny (OMORI), Basil/Sunny (OMORI)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>101</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. confession</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"I have to tell you something."</p><p>The words fell out of my mouth and the room hushed in expectation. I could see Aubrey, Hero, and Kel staring at me with curious expressions. Their eyes were so innocent, concerned and very kind. I knew they could not even begin to imagine what I was about to say and fear gripped my chest tightly. Nothing would ever be the same after I say these words. Nothing would be the same. Nothing. </p><p>I could feel my shaking hands and beating heart and I sought out the only eyes that could understand me. They were blue and widened in horror as understanding dawned on them. Guilt sunk into me. Basil probably didn't want this secret revealed in front of his friends, especially not here, in the hospital, with me being the one to say it. I decided not to mention his part of the story, at least not yet. But as I looked into his eyes I saw the terror, the fear and the pain that had engulfed me for years, and I knew that he would have to stop running away eventually. The painful feelings threatened to consume me but I pushed my horrible memories away and tried to steady my breathing as the tiled floor swam below me.</p><p>My friends were still staring at me, and my expression had probably shown the fear I felt, because their smiles had dropped off their faces.</p><p>"I... I was the one who... who..."</p><p>My voice choked around her name and tears sprang to my eyes, but I forced myself to continue speaking. My voice was quiet and wavering but seemed to fill the entire room and echo back at me. Basil stared at me with haunted eyes and I silently hoped I would never have to see that expression on his face again.</p><p>"I killed Mari."</p><p>The room fell into complete silence. My friends stared at me, bewildered, and tears started pouring down my face. I did not try to stop them. I simply stood there and stared into nothing. I was too scared to look up and meet whatever expressions might greet me.</p><p>"It wasn't his fault."</p><p>Basil spoke quietly, shattering the stillness of the room. The atmosphere felt suffocating and I looked up at him slowly. He was scared and tired, his eye bags deep and pronounced and his eyes wide and filling with tears. But his voice had a quiet resolve. My own determination had started to wither away and my voice was failing me, the world becoming faint and far away. My head still ached badly from the fight and I gripped it in my hands, blotting out the harsh hospital lighting.</p><p>"It was an accident... I... He pushed her and she fell down the stairs and then I... I suggested that we should make it look like a"- Basil's voice choked off as he sobbed quietly- "a suicide."</p><p>My ears were ringing and I thought I might pass out. I had tried to ready myself for this moment, but... to hear the truth said so clearly in front of me, to hear the words that had been haunting me for years from someone else's mouth... it was all too much. </p><p>I became dimly aware that my legs had given out and I was laying on cold tiles. Cold, everything was cold, and my body started to shake. The world spun away from me, and just as my last senses dimmed, I felt a sudden warmth on my shoulder; a human hand.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. welcome to white space..?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I opened my eyes to blinding white light.</p><p>It was the harsh, electrical light that came from a hospital lightbulb in a hushed corridor, except there was no light source and no shadows either. The light emanated from the floor and the places where the ceiling and walls should have been, and I squinted my eyes against it. When I tilted my head back I could see my familiar room repeating over and over as if a mirror was reflecting an infinite image, and my head spun.</p><p>Wait.</p><p>I lurched to my feet as the realization hit me. The box of tissues, the laptop, Mewo, the black lightbulb... even the white door was right where it had always been. I looked around frantically as panic rose in my chest; what was I doing here?</p><p>I had gotten rid of Omori. I had fought so hard to find a new life and future for myself, and yet I was back here, in White Space. Had none of it mattered? Was there no salvation for me? ...Was Something going to haunt me for the rest of my life?</p><p>I clutched at my shirt sleeve, an old nervous habit, and stopped in my tracks. My clothes were different.</p><p>I glanced down at my hands and realized that they were not white. I seemed to be taller and was wearing a simple blouse and pants. My shoulders sagged in relief. Something <i>had</i> changed.<br/>
I walked over to Mewo and pet him on the head, not eliciting any kind of response from the black cat. The white door loomed in front of me. It looked less imposingly tall now, but a chill still ran down my spine. I never wanted to go back to the ghosts of friends I no longer knew playing in a broken world created out of pain and fear.</p><p>Remembering something, I walked over to the desk my sketchbook was messily thrown on. I pensively flipped through the pages, tracing each drawing that I knew by heart. The paper was rough and cold, and as I got to the last page my breath hitched.</p><p>The drawing of Something was gone.</p><p>The paper was blank and untouched, as if nothing had ever been there. It disturbed me. This world, so destroyed and broken just a day before, was spotless and pristine now, everything back in the right place.</p><p>I didn't want to be here.</p><p>Out of old habit, I reached for the knife that was always resting in my pocket. Except, it wasn't there anymore. I didn't know if I should feel relieved or worried. I was tired of having to stab myself over and over and over, but... how was I going to get out?</p><p>A horrible thought occurred to me. Was I stuck here forever?</p><p>My hands began to shake as I looked around frantically. It was all so real. Too real. I had always loved how vivid everything was, because my friends were with me and Mari was alive and everyone loved me. But now that this place served no purpose anymore, why was it still so palpable?</p><p>The sound of a door opening made me flinch, and I whirled my head around. Basil was peering into White Space carefully, and the half-opened door let in a pleasant breeze. His hair was green and the flower crown perched on top of it, slightly crooked on his head. When he saw me his eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to speak--</p><p> </p><p>"...e okay?"</p><p>"...look, he's waking up."</p><p>My eye fluttered open and slowly focused on the faces of Basil and Aubrey standing over me. Basil was hunched over my hospital bed anxiously, and Aubrey stood a few inches away from both of us, her gaze blank. </p><p>"What time is it?" I asked quietly. My voice sounded raspy and my mouth was dry.</p><p>"It's the next day," Aubrey said, averting her gaze. "What did you think you were doing, walking off by yourself in the state you were in? The doctors say you have a concussion."</p><p>Anger was unmistakable in her voice, and I flinched, staring at the ceiling above me. But Aubrey wasn't done.</p><p>"And then you had the nerve to barge into Basil's room and say such horrible nonsense and then pass out on the goddamn hospital floor," she mumbled. "Do you know how Basil was crying? Why would you do something like that?"</p><p>"Aubrey, it isn't his fault," Basil said, a hint of apprehension in his voice. His shoulders tensed up but he continued. "Please don't be so angry at him right now..."</p><p>I wanted to say something and stop this mess, but I felt powerless. The right words wouldn't come to my mouth and I had the urge to put my hands over my ears and escape. A flicker of a memory washed over me, a blinding room and a tall door and a flower crown; and something about it made me close my eye, take a breath, and steady myself instead. </p><p>When I opened it back up, Basil was staring at me anxiously, but I did not miss the way his body was turned away from Aubrey and his arms trembled. I met Aubrey's eyes; they were burning with anger, but under the fierce expression was fear and grief and pain that was all too familiar to me. </p><p>"I'm sorry," I said. </p><p>The words were simple, but they seemed to take Aubrey aback. She stared at me for a second, and then started laughing.</p><p>"You were never good with words, Sunny, you know?" she managed in between bouts of painful laughter. "No, but you were always such a good listener... You were always there when someone was feeling bad." Her laughter had died down now, and she looked simply sad. "Why are you apologizing to me when I treat you this way? You know I'm not actually angry about what you told us. It's just that... words will never bring Mari back to life."</p><p>She spat the last sentence out and a sharp pain flashed through me. Basil was staring at Aubrey with wide eyes, and I thought he might cry.</p><p>"I know." </p><p>I sagged back into the pristine hospital sheets and waited for Aubrey to reply. Everything here was so bright, so white, and it reminded me of something I couldn't quite place.</p><p>Time dragged on, and the room was still completely silent. I could not even hear quite sniffling from Basil, and I started to think that perhaps my visitors had somehow left, or never been here at all.</p><p>That is, until the hospital door opened and a familiar voice called out my name.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>uhhh, if anyone is actually reading this, thank you, i guess? i dont really know why you would put yourself through this kind of torture, unless you're a masochist (in which case, thats understandable, but im disproving my own case) but yeah i guess thank you for reading. im basically just writing this for practice and for myself because i have an unhealthy attachment with omori and it made me cry for like an hour. also, please note that i mostly do not proofread this and i type really quickly, so i apologize if there are errors.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Hero.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sorry for not writing for so long! I got a bit busy with life and everything. I have a lot of problems with commitment but I'll try to update more. I hope you guys like this story.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It sounded so wrong, my name being said in Hero's familiar voice, the voice I had imagined so many times in my dreams. It made me cringe and want to turn away and cry, but I knew that I could not.<br/>I looked to the doorway to see Hero standing there, Kel a few inches behind him. The latter noticed my stare and smiled at me, although it looked strained and unhappy.<br/>I didn't dare look at Hero's face.<br/>"...Hi, Hero and Kel," Aubrey said, turning around to greet them. Any hint of the playful rivalry she had with Kel was gone from her voice. Basil didn't say anything, but he gave me a glance, and I saw my fear reflected in his eyes.<br/>"Hi, Aubrey! How's everything? Is Sunny feeling better?" Kel walked into the hospital room and demonstratively looked around the small, white space. "It's so boring and depressing here. I should really bring something in while you recover, Sunny. Are there any board games you like?"<br/>His kindness was suffocating, and I wanted to tell him to drop the act, but I didn't trust my voice or my words to come out right. Instead I shook my head faintly.<br/>"Uh, I can bring some plants in, maybe," Basil muttered quietly, glancing at Kel anxiously. <br/>Hero had still said nothing. <br/>I wrung my hands together and wished for the nurse to come in and usher everyone out. My head hurt and everyone's voices were loud and irritating and I didn't want to see any of their expressions ever again, not the terrified look Basil had or the pained smile of Kel or the anger and grief of Aubrey or, most of all, the blank look Hero had, the vacant expression in his eyes that reminded him too much of me. <br/>He had blamed himself for the accident, I remembered. He must have carried that guilt with him for all these years. He suffered so much, only to find out that Mari's death was utterly pointless, and that it was her younger brother at fault. It was me at fault.<br/>I wondered if he had, would, could, forgive me.<br/>The thought was like a jolt of electricity, and my eyes started to water. Before I knew it, I was crying, and I covered my face with an arm. The blackness was comforting, and I half wished I had been blinded completely. I didn't know how to deal with the pain written on my friends' faces.<br/>If I could still consider them friends, anyway.<br/>The tears kept spilling out of my eyes and onto my hospital gown. Could any of them forgive me? Could I forgive myself? I had tried...<br/>"Sunny."<br/>...Why was Hero saying my name?<br/>"Sunny, please don't cry."<br/>I lowered my arm and looked up through my eyelashes, vision blurred by tears. The back of my brain whispered that this was embarrassing, that I couldn't cry in front of them. I ignored it.<br/>"Are you okay?" Kel asked, leaning closer to me. I turned away from him and he pouted. Hero gave him a pointed glance and then looked back at me.<br/>"Hi, Sunny." It was a laughably simple sentence for the situation we were in.<br/>"Hi."<br/>We stared at each other for a bit, tears drying up on my cheeks. I had a feeling that neither of us knew what to say.<br/>"I hope you're feeling better," is what Hero finally managed, his expression pained and conflicted. I shook my head.<br/>"I'm sorry."<br/>I was apologizing a lot lately. I wondered if the words still had any meaning.<br/>Hero looked taken aback. "Um, it's okay."<br/>It was so clear that it wasn't.<br/>"Hey, Kel, let's go check out what the cafeteria has," Aubrey said with a pointed look. "We should bring something back for Hero. And Basil, I think you should go back to your room."<br/>"U-um, you're right," Basil muttered, and Aubrey clutched Kel's hand, dragging him away as he protested.<br/>It was just Hero and me now, and my heart beat wildly in my chest. The room was completely silent, and all I could hear was the ringing in my ears. Hero shuffled his legs uncomfortably. <br/>"Hey, Sunny, I, um, I just wanted to say that I- I forgive you."<br/>"Please don't lie to me." <br/>Hero looked like he had been slapped, and I shrunk away. "S- sorry. Sorry. Sorry," I muttered. "Sorry."<br/>"No, you're right." Hero sighed deeply, clutching his face in his hands. "You're right. I'm sorry."<br/>All we ever were was sorry.<br/>"I don't forgive you. Not right now, at least. I want to forgive you so badly, and I'm not angry at you. It's not at you, and yet..." He shook his head. "I should be the older one. I should have taken better care of all of you, paid more attention. I should've..."<br/>He trailed off. "No, it's useless to think like that and I'm probably making you upset. Sunny, I just... I want to say something to you, but I don't know what."<br/>I wanted to tell him that I felt the same way, that I wanted to say so much and yet the words wouldn't come out, but I didn't. I settled on something simple instead.<br/>"It's okay that you don't forgive me, but it makes me happy that you want to."<br/>That was a start, I supposed.<br/>Hero looked at me and, to my surprise, a faint smile rested on his lips. It was sad, but more genuine than anything else I had seen since that horrible night in the bathroom. Somehow, my chest felt lighter.<br/>"Yeah. Let's keep it at that." Hero turned around and walked quietly to the door. "Feel better soon," he added, and then exited and closed the door gently behind him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry that this was kind of short. I hope to write a lot of wholesome moments (and also a lot of angst &gt;:D) in future chapters with these guys! I'll whip up something longer soon (I have a break in around a week), but for now, I hope you liked this, even though it was pretty rushed.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>